Liberal and NDP Grassroots to Vote on Plans that Would Destroy Oil and Gas Jobs
Plus updated NHL quarantine rules, Liberals filibuster Conservatives seeking answers for prorogation, the Secret Home Equity Tax, Access to Information Public Consultations, and more
Liberals and NDP Grassroots to Vote on Plans that Would Destroy Oil and Gas Jobs
This weekend, the Liberals and the NDP are having their policy convention which will shape their policy playbooks for the upcoming convention. The grassroots of the party submit policy resolutions and delegates at the convention vote on which policies make it into the overall their party’s policy books. The Conservatives held a very successful convention last month.
These policy conventions, generally held every other year, gauge the direction of a political party’s policy and membership. Both the Liberal and NDP parties are proposing radical policies that would decimate Alberta’s oil and gas jobs if fully implemented.
The Young Liberals of Canada are proposing a complete divestment from the oil and gas sector stating,
“Be it resolved that the Canadian government present an economic recovery plan that is focused on the green economic transition required for the planet's survival and that promotes investment in environmental infrastructure projects and divestment from the oil industry.”
The Liberal grassroots in Quebec are proposing,
“Ending government support for both fossil fuels and nuclear components of the energy sector”
Ironically, nuclear energy is seen by many as the only viable future alternative to fossil fuels, and fuels still supply 84% of the world’s energy. Hydroelectric, renewable, and nuclear energy combine for only 16% of the world’s energy supply. Notably, renewable energy (non-nuclear) only accounts for 5% of the world’s energy consumption. The concept is nearly entirely lost on the Liberal grassroots and leadership.
The NDP membership is voting on similar ideas, only more ideological and with greater detail. In addition to withdrawing support for oil and gas workers, the NDP membership will vote on a resolution that would require the NDP to use all resources at its disposal to oppose pipelines, and nationalize all energy companies;
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT the NDP actively campaign in opposition of all new pipeline construction, and for a rapid conversion to renewable, green energy systems, recognizing that to fund such a gigantic energy shift it will be necessary to conscript the enormous, accumulated wealth of the resource corporations by nationalizing Big Oil and Gas under workers’ and community democratic control, while fully respecting Indigenous peoples’ rights.”
And another;
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Parliamentary NDP Caucus pressure the minority Liberal Government to cease subsidizing the fossil fuel industry and instead invest in the infrastructure and training necessary to shift to a green, safe and just economy”
What both the Liberals and NDP fail to understand is that global demand for energy is increasing. The International Energy Agency predicts that global demand for energy will increase by 19% with a 7% increase in demand for oil. This demand can be met either by Canada, who is a world leader in ethical oil (or energy that meets high ESG, environmental, social and governance practices), or Venezuela and Saudi Arabia who care very little about any ethical or environmental standards.
Aggregate data from the Yale Environmental Performance Index, the Worldbank Governance Index, and the Social Progress Index ranks Canada 1st overall for environmental, social, and governance practices among nations with the largest oil reserves. In these studies, Canada comes in 2nd for governance and social progress and 4th on the environment.
I am proud of Canada’s world-leading oil and gas workers. Canada’s Conservatives are committed to supporting and securing the future of oil and gas workers across Canada.
One Set of Rules for Professional NHL Players and Another for Family Reunification
On March 26, 2021, ahead of the April 12th trade deadline, the Liberals approved a shortened seven-day quarantine with extra testing for NHL players traded from US teams to Canadian teams. Hockey is not more important than family reunification, family adoption overseas, or seeing family just across the border in the United States. Having one set of rules for elite professional players and another for the rest of Canadians smacks of elitism and showcases the total lack of priority the Liberals are placing on reunifying Canadian families cut-off by the border closures.
Prorogation Fallout Continues
The fallout continues from Prime Minister Trudeau’s decision to prorogue Parliament on August 18, 2020. What is prorogation? It is when the federal government, and the prime minister, request that the business of the Canadian government be cleared from Parliament. It is always followed by a new throne speech that outlines the federal government’s priorities. It also creates a new session of Parliament so between 2015 and 2019 there was only one session while in this minority government we now have 2 sessions of Parliament. Sessions simply divide the work of Parliament pre and post prorogation. All government legislation is dropped from the order of business and private member’s bills, as well as motions, stay intact.
But what is this fallout? Well, the Liberal MPs on the Procedures and House Affairs (PROC) are continuing a filibuster to prevent a motion tabled by a conservative MP on February 23, 2021, from being voted upon to prevent witnesses to be called before the committee to fill in the blanks on why Parliament was prorogued.
The reason for this obstruction is that the Standing Orders (effectively the bylaws of Parliament) were amended by the Liberal government in 2017 to compel a review for the reasons for prorogation within 20 days after Parliament resumes. The Liberals are now filibustering their own changes and accountability mechanism – an amendment that I believe was an improvement to the accountability functions of Parliament. You see it was Trudeau who said during the 2015 federal election that “Harper has used prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances.” As late as 2017 and in the lead-up to the Standing Order changes, Trudeau was reminding Canadians and parliamentarians that this perceived abuse of prorogation was necessary.
Prorogation is a legitimate parliamentary tool. I am not here pointing fingers at the Liberal government for using it to get out of a difficult parliamentary inquiry into the WE Charity scandal that cost them their finance minister. Prorogation is used routinely every year in Alberta going back to past new democrat, Progressive Conservative, and current United Conservative governments. It is a tool for organizing a parliamentary calendar and everyone is clear on how and why prorogation is to be used. Additionally, the August 2020 prorogation delayed the parliamentary inquiry, it did not stop it.
The Liberal MPs on the parliamentary committee are now continuing a multiple meeting filibuster to avoid having further witnesses called so that the PROC committee can fulfill the rule requirements introduced by the same Liberal government. This was an accountability mechanism that was rightly introduced by Trudeau and the work should be completed before a federal election is called. It has now been over six months since Parliament resumed and Canadians should rightly expect that this committee report on pass judgment on whether this prorogation was politically motivated to avoid a disastrous parliamentary inquiry or whether it was for scheduling purposes.
The Liberal MPs on the committee should end their filibuster. Vote on calling more witnesses and complete the report with its recommendations. This was, after all, their own idea.
Public Consultations on Access to Information Requests
In 1983, the Government passed the Access to Information Act which was designed to increase transparency and government accountability. For $5, Canadians can submit access to information requests to any government department on any relevant subject, and the government is obligated to produce documents. While this sounds simple, the process of receiving access to information requests is slow, outdated, and in need of serious repairs. Access to information requests are essential to my work as an opposition Member of Parliament; however, too often my requests are ignored, delayed, or not appropriately delivered. Changes to the act to increase transparency are desperately needed.
Earlier this month, the Government of Canada launched public consultations on reforming the Access to Information Act. I encourage you to submit your views online by emailing reviewingATIA.revisionLAI@tbs-sct.gc.ca or by clicking the link below.
Mars Perseverance Rover and the Canadian Connection
On February 18, 2021, NASA’s newest robotic wonder called Perseverance landed successfully on Mars in the Jezero crater. It was launched in July 2020 with a surprising number of Canadians contributing research, parts, and ingenuity to the effort. It is amazing to be able now to follow this robotic rover on social media, I recommend following the Mars Perseverance Instagram account for amazing footage and videos from this distant planet. This is the 4th mission to Mars and follows the 1997 Sojourner rover, the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity in 2004 and then Curiosity in 2012. Farah Alibay is a system engineer from Montreal who helped land the latest rover on Mars and is responsible for coordinating operations for the Ingenuity helicopter to be deployed and flown there. The Manitoba Canadian Photonic Lab led by Mark Wahoski contributed some of the cutting-edge gadgets being used on Perseverance. Many other Canadians including Tim Haltigin from the Canadian Space Agency, the curator of the Royal Ontario Museum Kim Tait, Brock University professor Marick Schmidt, University of Alberta professor Chris Herd, and McGill university adjunct professor Richard Leveille, have all contributed to the mission.
Encourage your kids, nieces, and nephews to pursue a career or a hobby in STEM by showing them this 21st-century marvel of human ingenuity. Like these other Canadians, you never know where this interest might take you.
The Secret Home Equity Tax
With record-breaking national debt and ballooning government expenditures, the Ottawa Liberals have been looking for new ways to get into the pockets of Canadian taxpayers. While the CD Howe Institute, the former employer of the previous Liberal Finance Minister, has called on the federal government to hike GST in order to combat Canada’s debt problem, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has secretly been studying a different option: a home equity tax.
Homeowners in Canada currently do not pay tax on the sale of their primary residence. This is a good thing for Alberta families. While the outgoing CEO of the CMHC has previously expressed his fondness for a potential home equity tax in Canada, he has vehemently denied that the CMHC had spent any money researching the potential implementation of such a tax. Back in July 2020, however, Blacklock’s Reporter uncovered via an access to information (ATIP) request that the CMHC had awarded a $250,000 research grant to a BC-based thinktank in order to research ways to increase housing accessibility. One of the suggestions produced? A tax on the sale of principal residences.
The Liberal government and the CMHC it controls deny that they are looking at such a new tax. Before the 2019 federal election, an outspoken Ontario Liberal MP suggested a home equity tax on behalf of Ontario Liberal MPs in a confidential report that was leaked to media sources. Now government documents I have obtained show that they are indeed seriously giving it a look at the CMHC, hiring a research group for such a purpose.
Despite this, the CMHC continues to deny the fact that they are studying a home equity tax. Just last week, the agency’s outgoing CEO was brought in front of the House of Commons Finance Committee and grilled for his role in covering up the CMHC’s research taxpayer-funded research into home equity taxation. Now no longer head of the agency, he has given up even trying to hide his support for a new tax and recently shared a Globe and Mail editorial spouting support for home equity taxation. The Liberal Finance Minister has also been publicly musing about new ways to tap into household savings to “unlock that pre-loaded stimulus.”
Your home or principal residence is often the primary savings tool for many generations. Old and young have banked on the future worth of their homes for their retirements. Taxing the retirements of retirees is wrong. The Liberal government needs to rein in its wayward crown agency known as the CMHC and put a definitive end to dreams of taxing the home equity savings of Canadians.
Enhanced Oil Recovery Meets Net-Zero in Clive, AB
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Enhance Energy’s carbon capture project in Clive, Alberta. This is a state-of-the-art facility that takes compressed carbon sourced from a refinery and a fertilizer plant in the industrial heartland near Edmonton and ships it by pipeline to the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line to Clive. It then pumps the carbon underground where it stays and brings to the surface oil that was hard to reach in prior conventional methods. This enhanced oil recovery process captures carbon from high-intensity producers, stores it underground and leads to more oil production in Alberta.
Over 1.2 million tonnes of carbon have been stored underground and taken the equivalent of 350,000 cars off the road. It has led to the recovery of more barrels of oil from wells past their best day and creates good-paying energy jobs in Alberta. Even better? The projects are considered carbon net-zero attracting more private capital from funds interested in showing off their environmental success stories. This project was built with nearly all private capital and the opportunities for growth are near limitless.